The Black Eyed Peas - Don't Phunk With My Heart

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After reviewing Fergie yesterday, I realised that I have never reviewed The Black Eyed Peas, so you can imagine the horror that struck my face at this revelation. So today I shall make up for not reviewing this band, by reviewing my favourite music video from these guys.

The Black Eyed Peas are a four piece band consisting of Will.I.Am (William Adams), Fergie (Stacy Ferguson), Apl.De.Ap (Allan Lindo, Jr.) and Taboo (Jaime Gómez). They have been a massive success all over the world, and I bet everyone knows who they are, if someone doesn't have a clue, they have clearly been hiding under a rock for way too long. They are currently on a hiatus (second one now), how long this will last no one knows, but they will be returning in the future, and they will not disappoint.

"Don't Phunk With My Heart" was written by William Adams, Stacy Ferguson, Printz Board, George Pajon Jr., Full Force, Anadi and Indeewar. The song samples a few different songs which are: "I Wonder If I Take You Home" by Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam with Full Force & "Ae Naujawan Sab Kuchh Yahan" and "Yeh Mera Dil Pyaar Ka Diwana" by Asha Bhosle. It was my favourite song back then and I wasn't happy that it only made number 3 on the UK chart, it really deserved to have gone higher. I also like how they have linked the song in with the music video.

I really can't fault this video at all, it is based on TV shows such as The Price Is Right, The Dating Game and Love Connection (I have only heard the first one, the others were American only TV Shows). And I like the whole concept, especially the teleports and how they go on different dates each time.

I also like how the members in the band all play different characters, some of which play more than one character, which makes it extremely interesting to watch. Will.I.Am plays himself, Voodoo Thursday and the drummer in the live band. Fergie plays herself only. Apl.De.Ap plays himself, the guitarist and the announcer. Taboo plays himself and the keyboard player.

I can't fault this video apart from the unfairness of Voodoo Thursday, and I remember hating him as a child when I first saw this video. I'm all into fairness, and I think Fergie should've worked out what Voodoo Thursday was up to right at the end, but then again some people are in denial of the whole events.

Overall, a great song that I can't help but still like today, seven years after it's release. The music video is definitely top-notch, and I reckon it would be hard to find a better video from that year, however that's my personal opinion and there might well be a better one from 2005. But I can't find anything wrong with this one, so you can all clearly imagine what rating I'm going to give it.

The 3 P's - The Key's To A Great Vocal

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The mic is set up and it sounds great, the headphones mix sound good, and all you have to do is press record. Occasionally it's that simple, but most of time recording vocals requires some production help to get the best performance from the singer. That's where the 3 P's come in.

Pitch, Pocket and Passion are the keys to a great vocal performance, and in this excerpt from How To Make Your Band Sound Great (there's also a similar section in the Music Producer's Handbook), you'll see just how they come into play in capturing a dynamite vocal.

"In the studio, the three P’s, pitch, pocket and passion, are what a producer lives by. You’ve got to have all three to have a dynamite vocal. And while Pitch and Pocket problems can be fixed by studio trickery, if you don’t have Passion, you don’t have a vocal. On stage, the three P’s apply maybe even more so, since you don’t have any of the cut and paste and autotune advantages of the studio to fall back on.  Let’s take a look inside the three P’s.

Pitch
Staying in Pitch means singing in tune. And not just some of the notes - every single note!  They’re all equally important!!  Pitch also means following the melody reliably. There’s a trend these days to scat sing around a melody, and while that might be desirable in some genres, it doesn’t work in any genre if you do it all the time.  Scatting might show off your technique and ability, but a song has a melody for a reason. That’s what people know, that’s what they can sing to themselves, and usually that’s what they want to hear.
Pocket
The Pocket means singing in time and in the “groove” (the rhythm) of the song. You can be in pitch, but if you’re wavering ahead or behind the beat it won’t feel right. All of the things that help instrumentalists, like dynamics, turnarounds and articulations, apply to vocals as well. Concentrate on the downbeat (on beat 1) to get your entrances. Concentrate on the snare drum (on 2 and 4) to stay in the pocket.
Passion
Passion is the ability to sell the lyrical content of the song through performance. It’s the ability to make me believe in what you’re singing, that you’re talking directly to me and not anyone else. And passion can sometimes trump pitch and pocket. A not-all-that-great singer who can convey the emotion in his voice is way more interesting to listen to than a polished singer who hits every note perfectly but with little emotion. In fact, just about any vocalist you’d consider a “star” has passion, and that’s why he or she is a star.On-stage, Passion can sometimes take a back seat to stamina, since you have to save yourself for a whole show and you can’t blow it all out in one song. That’s why many singers have only one or two big “production numbers” where they totally whip it out. This means that you have to learn the limits of your voice, learn how much of you goes into just cruising and when you can do it, and how much you need left in the tank to do your biggest, most effective show stoppers.In the studio, there’s never any cruising - you’ve got to give all the passion you can give for every song and it’s the job of the producer to pull it out of you. That could mean getting the singer angry to stir some emotion, building him up by telling him how good he is, or making him laugh to loosen him up. Anything to sell the song! But once you know how to summon it up from inside you, you can do it again and again."You can read more excerpts from How To Make Your Band Sound Great, The Music Producer's Handbook, and more at bobbyowsinski.com.

----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

A Review Of This Year's Lists

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Happy Thanksgiving for those of you who celebrate it. I thought that today would be a good day to review some of the posts from the past that contained some lists. Here we go with 10 of them from earlier in the year:
8 Street Performance Tips

5 Reasons Why Concerts Sound So Bad

4 Ways The Internet Could Go Down

The 5 Best Cities For Live Music

5 Live Show Mistakes Bands Make

6 Common Songwriting Problems

8 Tips For Mixing For Mastering

DJ Shadow's 13 Secrets Of Music Biz Survival

9 All-Time Bad Tech Predictions

8 Indicators Your Mix Is Finished

Enjoy the lists (and the football and turkey if you're in the US).
----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

10 Things About Sound You Probably Didn't Know

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This is something that I posted a couple of years ago that's worth posting again. It's the 10 things about sound, some of them which you probably didn't know. They come from Julian Treasure, the author of "Sound Business" and chairman of the the UK audio branding company The Sound Agency. He speaks internationally about the affect of sound on people, business and society. The following comes from a CNN article outlining Julian's TED Conference presentation.

Especially be aware of #7!

"1.) You are a chord. This is obvious from physics, though it's admittedly somewhat metaphorical to call the combined rhythms and vibrations within a human being a chord, which we usually understand to be an aesthetically pleasant audible collection of tones. But "the fundamental characteristic of nature is periodic functioning in frequency, or musical pitch," according to C.T. Eagle. Matter is vibrating energy; therefore, we are a collection of vibrations of many kinds, which can be considered a chord.

2.) One definition of health may be that that chord is in complete harmony. The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" which opens at least three dimensions to the concept. On a philosophical level, Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras and Confucius all wrote at length about the relationship between harmony, music and health (both social and physical). Here's Socrates: "Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful."

3.) We see one octave; we hear ten. An octave is a doubling in frequency. The visual spectrum in frequency terms is 400-790 THz, so it's just under one octave. Humans with great hearing can hear from 20 Hz to 20 KHz, which is ten octaves.

4.) We adopt listening positions. Listening positions are a useful set of perspectives that can help people to be more conscious and effective in communication -- because expert listening can be just as powerful as speaking. For example, men typically adopt a reductive listening position, listening for something, often a point or solution.

Women, by contrast, typically adopt an expansive listening position, enjoying the journey, going with the flow. When unconscious, this mismatch causes a lot of arguments.

Other listening positions include judgmental (or critical), active (or reflective), passive (or meditative) and so on. Some are well known and widely used; for example, active listening is trained into many therapists, counselors and educators.

5.) Noise harms and even kills. There is now wealth of evidence about the harmful effect of noise, and yet most people still consider noise a local matter, not the major global issue it has become.

According to a 1999 U.S. Census report, Americans named noise as the number one problem in neighborhoods. Of the households surveyed, 11.3 percent stated that street or traffic noise was bothersome, and 4.4 percent said it was so bad that they wanted to move. More Americans are bothered by noise than by crime, odors and other problems listed under "other bothersome conditions."

The European Union says: "Around 20% of the Union's population or close on 80 million people suffer from noise levels that scientists and health experts consider to be unacceptable, where most people become annoyed, where sleep is disturbed and where adverse health effects are to be feared. An additional 170 million citizens are living in so-called 'grey areas' where the noise levels are such to cause serious annoyance during the daytime."

The World Health Organization says: "Traffic noise alone is harming the health of almost every third person in the WHO European Region. One in five Europeans is regularly exposed to sound levels at night that could significantly damage health."

The WHO is also the source for the startling statistic about noise killing 200,000 people a year. Its findings (LARES report) estimate that 3 percent of deaths from ischemic heart disease result from long-term exposure to noise. With 7 million deaths a year globally, that means 210,000 people are dying of noise every year.

The cost of noise to society is astronomical. The EU again: "Present economic estimates of the annual damage in the EU due to environmental noise range from EUR 13 billion to 38 billion. Elements that contribute are a reduction of housing prices, medical costs, reduced possibilities of land use and cost of lost labour days." (Future Noise Policy European Commission Green Paper 1996).

Then there is the effect of noise on social behavior. The U.S. report "Noise and its effects" (Administrative Conference of the United States, Alice Suter, 1991) says: "Even moderate noise levels can increase anxiety, decrease the incidence of helping behavior, and increase the risk of hostile behavior in experimental subjects. These effects may, to some extent, help explain the "dehumanization" of today's urban environment."

Perhaps Confucius and Socrates have a point.

6.) Schizophonia is unhealthy. "Schizophonia" describes a state where what you hear and what you see are unrelated. The word was coined by the great Canadian audiologist Murray Schafer and was intended to communicate unhealthiness. Schafer explains: "I coined the term schizophonia intending it to be a nervous word. Related to schizophrenia, I wanted it to convey the same sense of aberration and drama."

My assertion that continual schizophonia is unhealthy is a hypothesis that science could and should test, both at personal and also a social level. You have only to consider the bizarre jollity of train carriages now -- full of lively conversation but none of it with anyone else in the carriage -- to entertain the possibility that this is somehow unnatural. Old-style silence at least had the virtue of being an honest lack of connection with those around us. Now we ignore our neighbors, merrily discussing intimate details of our lives as if the people around us simply don't exist. Surely this is not a positive social phenomenon.

7. Compressed music makes you tired. However clever the technology and the psychoacoustic algorithms applied, there are many issues with data compression of music, as discussed in this excellent article by Robert Harley back in 1991. My assertion that listening to highly compressed music makes people tired and irritable is based on personal and anecdotal experience - again it's one that I hope will be tested by researchers.

8. Headphone abuse is creating deaf kids. Over 19 percent of American 12 to 19 years old exhibited some hearing loss in 2005-2006, an increase of almost 5 percent since 1988-94 (according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Josef Shargorodsky et al, reported with comments from the researchershere). One university study found that 61 percent of freshmen showed hearing loss (Leeds 2001).

Many audiologists use the rule of thumb that your headphones are too loud if you can't hear someone talking loudly to you. For example, Robert Fifer, an associate professor of audiology and speech pathology at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, says: "If you can still hear what people are saying around you, you are at a safe level. If the volume is turned so loudly that you can no longer hear conversation around you, or if someone has to shout at you at a distance of about 2 or 3 feet to get your attention, then you are up in the hazardous noise range."

9. Natural sound and silence are good for you. These assertions seem to be uncontroversial. Perhaps they resonate with everyone's experience or instinct.

10. Sound can heal. Both music therapy and sound therapy can be categorized as "sound healing." Music therapy (the use of music to improve health) is a well-established form of treatment in the context of mainstream medicine for many conditions, including dementia and autism.

Less mainstream, though intellectually no more difficult to accept, is sound therapy: the use of tones or sounds to improve health through entrainment (affecting one oscillator with a stronger one). This is long-established: shamanic and community chant and the use of various resonators like bells and gongs, date back thousands of years and are still in use in many cultures around the world.

Just because something is pre-Enlightenment and not done in hospitals doesn't mean that it's new-age BS. Doubtless there are charlatans offering snake oil (as in many fields), but I suspect there is also much to learn, and just as herbal medicine gave rise to many of the drugs we use today, I suspect there are rich resources and fascinating insights to be gleaned when science starts to unpack the traditions of sound healing."

It's worth it to check out the original article on CNN.com since it also contains the original TED video that the above came from.

----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Is Logic Being Discontinued?

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While Pro Tools is the king of the professional DAW world, there's still a large and dedicated Logic Pro following, with many users swearing by its versatility and sound. Those users have clamored for a new upgrade, since the last version of Logic was released way back in 2009.

That new version may never come, as word has leaked out of Apple Europe (where Logic development is based) that the company has let go virtually its entire Logic team except for 2 pro application specialists. Word is that there is no plan to hire anyone else, which does not bode well for the product.

A quick look on Apple's job site shows lots of audio related jobs at various spots within the company, but none related to Logic. Apple has hinted that the next big audio app in the future will be for iPad.

I hate to say it, being an Apple fanboy myself, but company does seem to be turning primarily into a consumer audio company, and little by little abandoning the pro users who stood by it during the hard times. I'm personally not a Logic user (I never could get my arms around it), but if it does disappear, I mourn its loss, since that's just another reason for a pro to look at another platform.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised that a new Mac Pro is in the offing (probably in January), and that will go a long way to bolster the state of the pro user at Apple. Until then, we can only wonder if all pro apps and hardware will go the way go the same way as Logic appears to be going.

----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

A Review Of This Year's Lists

To contact us Click HERE
Happy Thanksgiving for those of you who celebrate it. I thought that today would be a good day to review some of the posts from the past that contained some lists. Here we go with 10 of them from earlier in the year:
8 Street Performance Tips

5 Reasons Why Concerts Sound So Bad

4 Ways The Internet Could Go Down

The 5 Best Cities For Live Music

5 Live Show Mistakes Bands Make

6 Common Songwriting Problems

8 Tips For Mixing For Mastering

DJ Shadow's 13 Secrets Of Music Biz Survival

9 All-Time Bad Tech Predictions

8 Indicators Your Mix Is Finished

Enjoy the lists (and the football and turkey if you're in the US).
----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

A Musical Cyber Monday Shopping Guide

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Here were are at another Cyber Monday, so I thought I'd post my own gift ideas and forego the usual New Music Gear Monday. Some of these are my own books and courses, but despite the self-promotion, they'll still make some fine gifts. Some of the other items are things that I personally can't live without in the studio, so you might find them useful as well. Here we go:

Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust: Ken Scott is a true legend, having worked with the likes of The Beatles, David Bowie, Elton John, The Stones, Kansas, and Devo, to name just a very few, and his story is a great one. I admit that I'm biased since I co-wrote the book, but I gotta say that every time I read something from it, I get drawn back in and forget that I was even involved. A great gift for anyone that's a fan of the music, engineering or the music business. You can read more about it at abbeytoziggy.com.




Audio Mixing Bootcamp: To someone who's either never done it before, or who's never done it well, mixing can be a total mystery. I wrote the Audio Mixing Bootcamp specifically to take the mystery out of it by making this a book about the reader actually doing it. Instead of talking about the mixing in the abstract like most other books, this book is a guided series of exercises that allows you to show yourself why something sounds good or why it doesn't. Read more about the Audio Mixing Bootcamp here.







Lynda.com Audio Mixing Bootcamp: If you don't know about Lynda.com then you really should. They're the #1 portal on the Internet for video learning, with over 1600 high-quality courses on just about any kind of high-tech you can think of. I was lucky enough to do this video version of the Audio Mixing Bootcamp book for them, and a lot of people really like. I hope you will too. Lynda is just $24.99 for a full month, which allows you to access as many courses as you can watch. Here's a free 7 day trial.

Lynda.com Audio Recording Techniques: Here's another course I just finished that covers all the basics of recording. You even get an inside look at a session with a bunch of LA A-list players as we record a song from scratch. If you want to see what goes into the making of a record with a rhythm section, vocals, background vocals, strings and horns, check it out.

Etymonic ER20 earplugs: These are the best earplugs made, and at around $10, they're a bargain too. My entire life around live music changed when I got these. They're one of the few earplugs that actually attenuate the audio while keeping the same frequency response. I've not found anything that works better at any price.









Mastering For iTunes: This is a free Lynda.com course that shows you not only how to make your files sound best on iTunes, but also everything about the new Mastered For iTunes program where they now accept hi-res 96/24 files. You'll find information here about the MFIT tools and how to use them that you won't find anywhere else.

Etymonic Research ER4 Micropro Earphones: Not only do these things sound great, but they're the absolute best for traveling, small and compact with great isolation and high-quality audio. If they're too pricy for you, try the HF5's instead.










Equator DS5 Monitors: I'm going to cover these in an upcoming edition of New Music Gear Monday, but let me say that you just can't find a better pair of monitors at this price point ($299) anywhere. Heck, you might have a hard time at twice as much, they're that good.




Music 3.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age: This is the definitive book on the music business today and how to take advantage of vast number of changes that that the industry has undergone recently. It includes everything about social media that you need to know in order to communicate, promote and sell directly to your client or fan. You can read more about the Music 3.0 Internet Music guidebook, as well as some excerpts, here.







The Studio Builder's Handbook: The acoustics of a room is often discussed in dark, mysterious scientific tones, but it doesn't have to be that way. The Studio Builder's Handbook breaks room acoustics down into a really easy to understandable way, with less math than you'd find in a cookbook. The best part is it shows you how to really improve the sound of your room for $150 or less (yes, that can really be done.) Read more about The Studio Builder's Handbook here.







Ariel Hyatt's Music Success In 9 Weeks: Ariel Hyatt is one of the smartest people in the music public relations business and a real pioneer in social PR. This book teaches you the right way to get ahead in the business using social media, and fills in where Music 3.0 leaves off.











Monoprice 8323 Headphones: It's hard to believe how good these are for only $28. These are finally the answer to expensive headphones that get lunched during sessions but are expensive to replace. Buy these and no one will be the wiser, because they really sound great for the price.


----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

10 Things About Sound You Probably Didn't Know

To contact us Click HERE
This is something that I posted a couple of years ago that's worth posting again. It's the 10 things about sound, some of them which you probably didn't know. They come from Julian Treasure, the author of "Sound Business" and chairman of the the UK audio branding company The Sound Agency. He speaks internationally about the affect of sound on people, business and society. The following comes from a CNN article outlining Julian's TED Conference presentation.

Especially be aware of #7!

"1.) You are a chord. This is obvious from physics, though it's admittedly somewhat metaphorical to call the combined rhythms and vibrations within a human being a chord, which we usually understand to be an aesthetically pleasant audible collection of tones. But "the fundamental characteristic of nature is periodic functioning in frequency, or musical pitch," according to C.T. Eagle. Matter is vibrating energy; therefore, we are a collection of vibrations of many kinds, which can be considered a chord.

2.) One definition of health may be that that chord is in complete harmony. The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" which opens at least three dimensions to the concept. On a philosophical level, Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras and Confucius all wrote at length about the relationship between harmony, music and health (both social and physical). Here's Socrates: "Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful."

3.) We see one octave; we hear ten. An octave is a doubling in frequency. The visual spectrum in frequency terms is 400-790 THz, so it's just under one octave. Humans with great hearing can hear from 20 Hz to 20 KHz, which is ten octaves.

4.) We adopt listening positions. Listening positions are a useful set of perspectives that can help people to be more conscious and effective in communication -- because expert listening can be just as powerful as speaking. For example, men typically adopt a reductive listening position, listening for something, often a point or solution.

Women, by contrast, typically adopt an expansive listening position, enjoying the journey, going with the flow. When unconscious, this mismatch causes a lot of arguments.

Other listening positions include judgmental (or critical), active (or reflective), passive (or meditative) and so on. Some are well known and widely used; for example, active listening is trained into many therapists, counselors and educators.

5.) Noise harms and even kills. There is now wealth of evidence about the harmful effect of noise, and yet most people still consider noise a local matter, not the major global issue it has become.

According to a 1999 U.S. Census report, Americans named noise as the number one problem in neighborhoods. Of the households surveyed, 11.3 percent stated that street or traffic noise was bothersome, and 4.4 percent said it was so bad that they wanted to move. More Americans are bothered by noise than by crime, odors and other problems listed under "other bothersome conditions."

The European Union says: "Around 20% of the Union's population or close on 80 million people suffer from noise levels that scientists and health experts consider to be unacceptable, where most people become annoyed, where sleep is disturbed and where adverse health effects are to be feared. An additional 170 million citizens are living in so-called 'grey areas' where the noise levels are such to cause serious annoyance during the daytime."

The World Health Organization says: "Traffic noise alone is harming the health of almost every third person in the WHO European Region. One in five Europeans is regularly exposed to sound levels at night that could significantly damage health."

The WHO is also the source for the startling statistic about noise killing 200,000 people a year. Its findings (LARES report) estimate that 3 percent of deaths from ischemic heart disease result from long-term exposure to noise. With 7 million deaths a year globally, that means 210,000 people are dying of noise every year.

The cost of noise to society is astronomical. The EU again: "Present economic estimates of the annual damage in the EU due to environmental noise range from EUR 13 billion to 38 billion. Elements that contribute are a reduction of housing prices, medical costs, reduced possibilities of land use and cost of lost labour days." (Future Noise Policy European Commission Green Paper 1996).

Then there is the effect of noise on social behavior. The U.S. report "Noise and its effects" (Administrative Conference of the United States, Alice Suter, 1991) says: "Even moderate noise levels can increase anxiety, decrease the incidence of helping behavior, and increase the risk of hostile behavior in experimental subjects. These effects may, to some extent, help explain the "dehumanization" of today's urban environment."

Perhaps Confucius and Socrates have a point.

6.) Schizophonia is unhealthy. "Schizophonia" describes a state where what you hear and what you see are unrelated. The word was coined by the great Canadian audiologist Murray Schafer and was intended to communicate unhealthiness. Schafer explains: "I coined the term schizophonia intending it to be a nervous word. Related to schizophrenia, I wanted it to convey the same sense of aberration and drama."

My assertion that continual schizophonia is unhealthy is a hypothesis that science could and should test, both at personal and also a social level. You have only to consider the bizarre jollity of train carriages now -- full of lively conversation but none of it with anyone else in the carriage -- to entertain the possibility that this is somehow unnatural. Old-style silence at least had the virtue of being an honest lack of connection with those around us. Now we ignore our neighbors, merrily discussing intimate details of our lives as if the people around us simply don't exist. Surely this is not a positive social phenomenon.

7. Compressed music makes you tired. However clever the technology and the psychoacoustic algorithms applied, there are many issues with data compression of music, as discussed in this excellent article by Robert Harley back in 1991. My assertion that listening to highly compressed music makes people tired and irritable is based on personal and anecdotal experience - again it's one that I hope will be tested by researchers.

8. Headphone abuse is creating deaf kids. Over 19 percent of American 12 to 19 years old exhibited some hearing loss in 2005-2006, an increase of almost 5 percent since 1988-94 (according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Josef Shargorodsky et al, reported with comments from the researchershere). One university study found that 61 percent of freshmen showed hearing loss (Leeds 2001).

Many audiologists use the rule of thumb that your headphones are too loud if you can't hear someone talking loudly to you. For example, Robert Fifer, an associate professor of audiology and speech pathology at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, says: "If you can still hear what people are saying around you, you are at a safe level. If the volume is turned so loudly that you can no longer hear conversation around you, or if someone has to shout at you at a distance of about 2 or 3 feet to get your attention, then you are up in the hazardous noise range."

9. Natural sound and silence are good for you. These assertions seem to be uncontroversial. Perhaps they resonate with everyone's experience or instinct.

10. Sound can heal. Both music therapy and sound therapy can be categorized as "sound healing." Music therapy (the use of music to improve health) is a well-established form of treatment in the context of mainstream medicine for many conditions, including dementia and autism.

Less mainstream, though intellectually no more difficult to accept, is sound therapy: the use of tones or sounds to improve health through entrainment (affecting one oscillator with a stronger one). This is long-established: shamanic and community chant and the use of various resonators like bells and gongs, date back thousands of years and are still in use in many cultures around the world.

Just because something is pre-Enlightenment and not done in hospitals doesn't mean that it's new-age BS. Doubtless there are charlatans offering snake oil (as in many fields), but I suspect there is also much to learn, and just as herbal medicine gave rise to many of the drugs we use today, I suspect there are rich resources and fascinating insights to be gleaned when science starts to unpack the traditions of sound healing."

It's worth it to check out the original article on CNN.com since it also contains the original TED video that the above came from.

----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Gene Krupa - Buddy Rich Drum Battle

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Even if you're not a drummer, I think you'll be able to appreciate the following video. It's a drum battle between two drumming legends, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, on the Sammy Davis Jr. Show in 1966.

Many consider Rich to be the gold standard for drumming technique, but Krupa proves to be every bit his equal here.

One of the things that I loved about rock drummers in the 60's and 70's was that all of the good ones were able to swing hard because they studied jazz drumming first. These two guys were the people that influenced every drummer from that time.



----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
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What Taking A Gig For "Exposure" Really Means

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The longer you're in the music business, the more times you're approached to do a gig for "the exposure." This usually means that either you won't get paid at all or you'll be paid a discounted rate for the privilege of doing the gig, ostensibly in order to gain higher visibility that will lead to more or better paying gigs later.

I've found that whenever "exposure" is brought up by the party offering the gig, that usually means they're just trying to get something for nothing, so the exposure doesn't amount to much. On the other hand, if the concept of exposure isn't brought up at all or even given a soft-sell, it occasionally can turn into just the thing you need to help advance your career.

So just what is this "exposure" thing and what can it do for you? Exposure can mean building awareness of either your personal brand or that of your band. This extended awareness will hopefully result in additional gigs or additional sales for your products. So how do you determine whether you'll gain enough exposure to make the gig worthwhile? Here's the formula I've come up with after years of getting burned:

1) Don't believe what anybody tells you. If you're told that agents, managers, record labels or a possible new audience might see you, take it all with a grain of salt. Do some research and find out for yourself before you make a commitment. The gig is going to cost you time and probably money, so try to make sure up front that you'll actually be getting what's promised.

2) Try to match any potential exposure to your promotional needs. Assuming that you've verified that you'll actually be playing in front of a crowd (that's not always the case), try to find out:

• Is this a crowd that wants to be entertained in the first place? No use playing to a thousand people who just want some background music instead of the type of show that you have to offer. An example would be playing a wedding because a manager that you want to meet will be there. The problem is it's the bride's day and she'll control what you play and how you'll play. You'll never be at your best no matter what you do so it's a no-win situation. Avoid gigs like this all costs.
• Is this a compatible audience? Don't take the gig to try to open up a new market segment that you don't already have a handle on. It hardly ever happens. If you're a great ska band but you're asked to open up for a hard rock band at a biker rally,  chances are the crowd won't like you no matter how great a show you put on. It's an incompatible audience, so don't waste your time.

3) Never play for a convention or conference crowd. You may have 5,000 people in the audience, but there won't be enough of them that like your type of music to make a difference. I once saw The Cult absolutely bomb playing to a NAMM crowd. Thousands of musos, but they were there for the party, not the band. And what's worse, at least half of them were thinking, "I can play better than that."

Don't let that exposure gig go the wrong way. Think really hard about it and do your homework before you commit.
----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Infernal - I Won't Be Crying

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Infernal is my Sunday revisit, purely because I don't think I'll ever get another chance to review this music video, and I specifically remember liking this music video lots, but I have no clue why.

As I have previously covered in my blog post for "From Paris To Berlin", Infernal are a duo consisting of Lina Rafn and Paw Langermann. They have only had three of their singles hit the UK chart, this one being the third and last and lowest position. "I Won't Be Crying", was more or less the decider as to whether they will stay in the UK limelight or not. But since it charted at 123, Infernal disappeared from the UK, or so we thought. They are still releasing but with no promotion, only their devoted fans to spread the word, Infernal just may never reach the UK chart, let along succeed to the height of their popularity back in 2006.

This music video is one of those videos that you see a lot of. It reminds me of From Above's "Not The Same Girl" and Rudenko's "Everybody". There's bound to be a lot more that have this similar style. And the only way to switch it up is to make it your own, and I feel that Infernal has done that with a little humorous spin to things.

I like the storyline, it's really good and links with the song perfectly. I especially like how the guy thinks he is perfection, rather than it being the girl, which shows a complete role reversal. I like how they've drawn inspirations too, such as the mirrors.

I like how they have added the performance sided to things, clearly showing what the UK missed out on. This song didn't chart high enough and Infernal disappeared from the UK chart altogether. However it was definitely worthy of getting much higher in the chart, as the vocals on this track is amazing, and I'm struck in awe every time I hear this track. I hope Infernal comes into the UK limelight once again, however it's not looking promising.

Esmée Denters - It's Summer Because We Say So

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Esmée Denters, yes you heard that name correctly, she is BACK! She is well known for her song "Outta Here" and her collaborations with Chipmunk on "Until You Were Gone" and Justin Timberlake on "Love Dealer". She was labelled as an R&B artist, but I don't think the UK took to her, and soon enough other countries world-wide started to become disinterested. She disappeared for two years, and now she is back, with a complete new direction in music. Is this right? I think so, and I think she thinks so too. Could this be her way of staying in the limelight. We'll just have to wait and see.

"It's Summer Because We Say So" is definitely not the sort of song I would've expected Esmée Denters to sing, but here she is, and here I am, reviewing something worthy enough to be a Cascada song. It was released last week, but I don't think many people realised she had released a new song, again lack of promotion, furthermore I found it difficult to find as it is under her first name only of Esmée, is this the name we are supposed to go by now? And if so, how come she hasn't changed her facebook and twitter profiles?

This music video is clearly low budget. It's missing a hell of a lot. I can't imagine the music channels picking this video up and showing it, it's just not commercial enough, it doesn't exude what you really want and need from a video like this, and although, for some people, Esmée is enough, for others it just isn't.

I don't even know where to comment on this video, there's just not enough there. I like the photo booth, but it's a common item found in previous low-budgeted music videos.

I really haven't got much else to say. The song should've been a massive summer hit, but it came out too late and wasn't promoted enough (3 Beat Records really need to step up their game). The music video had so much promise, but doesn't work and doesn't stand out. I have to go with my brain on this rating, and I really don't like dipping this low for ratings, but guess I have no choice. however the song is definitely much better than the video, her voice is fantastic, and I hope she gets her big break soon!

The Black Eyed Peas - Don't Phunk With My Heart

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After reviewing Fergie yesterday, I realised that I have never reviewed The Black Eyed Peas, so you can imagine the horror that struck my face at this revelation. So today I shall make up for not reviewing this band, by reviewing my favourite music video from these guys.

The Black Eyed Peas are a four piece band consisting of Will.I.Am (William Adams), Fergie (Stacy Ferguson), Apl.De.Ap (Allan Lindo, Jr.) and Taboo (Jaime Gómez). They have been a massive success all over the world, and I bet everyone knows who they are, if someone doesn't have a clue, they have clearly been hiding under a rock for way too long. They are currently on a hiatus (second one now), how long this will last no one knows, but they will be returning in the future, and they will not disappoint.

"Don't Phunk With My Heart" was written by William Adams, Stacy Ferguson, Printz Board, George Pajon Jr., Full Force, Anadi and Indeewar. The song samples a few different songs which are: "I Wonder If I Take You Home" by Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam with Full Force & "Ae Naujawan Sab Kuchh Yahan" and "Yeh Mera Dil Pyaar Ka Diwana" by Asha Bhosle. It was my favourite song back then and I wasn't happy that it only made number 3 on the UK chart, it really deserved to have gone higher. I also like how they have linked the song in with the music video.

I really can't fault this video at all, it is based on TV shows such as The Price Is Right, The Dating Game and Love Connection (I have only heard the first one, the others were American only TV Shows). And I like the whole concept, especially the teleports and how they go on different dates each time.

I also like how the members in the band all play different characters, some of which play more than one character, which makes it extremely interesting to watch. Will.I.Am plays himself, Voodoo Thursday and the drummer in the live band. Fergie plays herself only. Apl.De.Ap plays himself, the guitarist and the announcer. Taboo plays himself and the keyboard player.

I can't fault this video apart from the unfairness of Voodoo Thursday, and I remember hating him as a child when I first saw this video. I'm all into fairness, and I think Fergie should've worked out what Voodoo Thursday was up to right at the end, but then again some people are in denial of the whole events.

Overall, a great song that I can't help but still like today, seven years after it's release. The music video is definitely top-notch, and I reckon it would be hard to find a better video from that year, however that's my personal opinion and there might well be a better one from 2005. But I can't find anything wrong with this one, so you can all clearly imagine what rating I'm going to give it.

New Release: Ke$ha - Die Young

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Ke$ha, real name Kesha Sebert, has finally released a new single, with it's album to be released next week. I have been waiting for ages, and I'm not the only one. Was it worth the wait? Definitely, have you not even heard this amazing song yet? I'm so glad she's back and I can see this new album "Warrior" performing better than "Animal" ever did. This is definitely one artist who will be around for a long time.

"Die Young" was written by Kesha Sebert, Lukasz Gottwald (Dr. Luke), Benjamin Levin (Benny Blanco), Henry Walter (Cirkut) and Nate Ruess (Lead Singer of Fun.). This is definitely a heavenly song writing team, all of which have appeared on my blog numerous times, but I don't think they have altogether and no wonder this song is fantastic, I really expect nothing less from these song writers. The song is infinitely catchy, it's meaning is to not take life too seriously and live every single day and second like it's your last. This reminds me so much of Nickleback's "If Today Was Your Last Day". The song is definitely going to make the UK chart, and it's slowly climbing up and up, could this be Ke$ha's second number one? It's climbing too slowly, but I wouldn't rule it out, there could be a possibility it could get there.

The music video is one of those that don't quite make sense unless you've watched it over and over. Here's what I thought: 1st Play, I really thought the video was rubbish. 2nd Play, it was a little clearer, but still wasn't sure of what was going on. After watching behind the scenes video and then 3rd Play, it makes perfect sense now. Thankfully we have Behind The Scenes Videos.

There is a storyline to this, Ke$ha is the leader of a cult or tribe, and practically living her life like it's her last day. And clearly just having fun.

I really like the choreography, it shows a side of her that we have never seen in any of her music videos before, and it shows a performance we are likely to see at her tours, and I'm surprised at how great she can dance, reminds me of Britney.

I like the ending, it really works. But I'm not too sure I'm happy about the symbolic imagery to the Illuminati, however, it is one of those things I am never going to be very knowledgeable on, I'm just not that interested. On the other hand I want to congratulate Ke$ha for deciding to make a statement (as always) and if that's what she wants to do then I can't really judge her for it, and no one else should.

Overall an amazing song, that is definitely number one worthy, but it looks doubtful that'll it'll get there, however we'll have to wait and see. The music video is pretty good, it relates to the song amazingly, but I feel that it takes too long for people to actually get it, and this could be something that prevents people from watching it a second time, and therefore Ke$ha could lose a few sales here and there, which is mightily important when you get high in the UK Chart.

KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See

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KT Tunstall, real name Kate Tunstall, has been around for quite some time. This song, however, is her highest UK charting single to date. I woke up with this song in my head, thanks to the amazing show "Being Erica" as this song sounds pretty similar to the theme tune which is "All I Ever Wanted" sung by Lily Frost.

"Suddenly I See" was written by KT Tunstall, as expected. The song is a tribute to female power, however it is one of those songs that could mean a whole range of stuff. This is what truly makes a song good. 2 people could listen to a song, both could like it lots, however for one it holds a dear emotional link and makes them stronger, for the other it may make them reflect on life and realise what they've been doing wrong. A song this powerful that can help the whole world deserves to be number one, unfortunately it only got to number 12 on the UK chart.

This music video is a pure performance piece, but what makes it stand out is that they've mixed it up and made it very different to what we are used to. It's a clever concept, and makes it seem symmetrical but they're two different performances of the song, put together. Which shows the variety we might get if we saw her live. Not my sort of thing, but a lot of people will enjoy it, and like how different it will be.

Of course I have a few things I don't like. That guy moving about. I don't know what he is doing, is he taking photos, or is he recording? I'm not sure, so why did they include him? Not only that but he messes it all up when the 2nd band comes through as he is standing right where the first one should be. It's confusing and annoying.

Overall a great song that I have already mentioned, should have been number one. The music video is interesting and different, however not much is going on to really draw my attention. However I like how you can see the looks the two bands give each other. Personally, I would've liked that to have been played up just that little bit more, like they were competing against one another.

Justin Bieber Featuring Nicki Minaj - Beauty And A Beat

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Here we go again. They were my exact thoughts yesterday when I noticed someone had commented on my suggestions page, and asked me to review this song. Justin Bieber is a worldwide superstar and he is one of those people who girls fall for and guys hate. It is possibly, the reason as to why he has never managed a number one single in the UK. However, as he grows older his music has got to change, and we are currently seeing that, and he is managing to capture some of the guys.

I was listening to "Free Radio" a couple of months back and someone texted in saying she had played Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" to her boyfriend without him knowing who it was. He turned around and said it was amazingly catchy and he would like to know who sung it so he could listen to it himself. However, to his shock horror she announced it was Justin Bieber and he told her to stop playing the song and choose something else. This begs to question why guys dislike him... My idea is that his first few singles and his debut album has given people a perception of him which he is now trying to dislodge, but will it work?

"Beauty And A Beat" was written by Max Martin, Anton Zaslayski, Savan Kotecha and Onika Maraj. This looks like a great collaboration of song-writers and is proved to be a hit, but will it get as far as it should. It is set to be released in November but it has already charted from album downloads only. It begs to question whether or not this will actually chart well. It's catchy and if I heard it on the radio it would be stuck in my head. At the end of the day, who cares who sings the song?

The music video was actually directed by Justin Bieber and John M. Chu. This is what makes this video different and amazingly great. It's reminiscent of Cloverfield (the film), and maybe a bit similar to Chronicle too. However there is no video I've ever come across that is quite as outstanding as this one.

I like the idea behind it, the fact that Justin Bieber directs the camera around. Not only that but he is a great dancer too. He kind of reminds me of Britney's early music videos. A lot of people, Sharon Osbourne in particular, has said that this guy might not make it in the future. However I believe she and many others are wrong, he will develop as an artist and take different directions, that his fan-base will support. Actually he is doing that right now. 

Overall the song is really catchy and I can see this song charting higher when it's officially been released. It's music video fails to relate to the song as well as it should, and there are a few errors that doesn't go amidst when watching. However it is a whole new video that stands out from the crowd and is something I am willing to watch again, surprisingly. Justin Bieber will never disappear, he will keep making hits, but will he ever get that UK number one single? We lie in wait for that day to come.

Steve Appleton - City Won't Sleep

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Steve Appleton is a singer/songwriter. He has released 3 singles and an album. Only one of the singles managed to chart, and it was a low charting position of 67, which was for "Dirty Funk". The following singles failed to chart. I have to admit, I have no idea why, maybe people didn't like the songs? But he did do a lot of promoting, so is it really worth it? So where is he now? Well he is releasing in Japan. His first single got to number two, he is a pretty big hit over there. This song has to be my favourite, I think it's really catchy. It was his second single to be released and didn't even chart.

This music video is your general boy band-esque  video, except it's a young adult, with no other guys with him, which makes you question who was behind this guy, record label and producer wise.

There's a narrative behind it, he sees this girl he likes and goes out and watches a magic trick, she then picks him up in a car and they have fun, but then he is dropped off and it's morning, and it's just a kiss to say goodbye, clearly a "one night stand" did happen as she requested on the card.

It is just too quick, too fast and not enough is given, however I do like the guitar solos in the video and shows his musical ability.

Overall, another song that should've charted but didn't and a music video that is more suited to a boy band rather than a male singer. It's too quick and easy, but great to watch at times. I'm in two minds about this video, don't know whether to like it or not, so I'll play it safe and strike through the middle.

Infernal - I Won't Be Crying

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Infernal is my Sunday revisit, purely because I don't think I'll ever get another chance to review this music video, and I specifically remember liking this music video lots, but I have no clue why.

As I have previously covered in my blog post for "From Paris To Berlin", Infernal are a duo consisting of Lina Rafn and Paw Langermann. They have only had three of their singles hit the UK chart, this one being the third and last and lowest position. "I Won't Be Crying", was more or less the decider as to whether they will stay in the UK limelight or not. But since it charted at 123, Infernal disappeared from the UK, or so we thought. They are still releasing but with no promotion, only their devoted fans to spread the word, Infernal just may never reach the UK chart, let along succeed to the height of their popularity back in 2006.

This music video is one of those videos that you see a lot of. It reminds me of From Above's "Not The Same Girl" and Rudenko's "Everybody". There's bound to be a lot more that have this similar style. And the only way to switch it up is to make it your own, and I feel that Infernal has done that with a little humorous spin to things.

I like the storyline, it's really good and links with the song perfectly. I especially like how the guy thinks he is perfection, rather than it being the girl, which shows a complete role reversal. I like how they've drawn inspirations too, such as the mirrors.

I like how they have added the performance sided to things, clearly showing what the UK missed out on. This song didn't chart high enough and Infernal disappeared from the UK chart altogether. However it was definitely worthy of getting much higher in the chart, as the vocals on this track is amazing, and I'm struck in awe every time I hear this track. I hope Infernal comes into the UK limelight once again, however it's not looking promising.

Esmée Denters - It's Summer Because We Say So

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Esmée Denters, yes you heard that name correctly, she is BACK! She is well known for her song "Outta Here" and her collaborations with Chipmunk on "Until You Were Gone" and Justin Timberlake on "Love Dealer". She was labelled as an R&B artist, but I don't think the UK took to her, and soon enough other countries world-wide started to become disinterested. She disappeared for two years, and now she is back, with a complete new direction in music. Is this right? I think so, and I think she thinks so too. Could this be her way of staying in the limelight. We'll just have to wait and see.

"It's Summer Because We Say So" is definitely not the sort of song I would've expected Esmée Denters to sing, but here she is, and here I am, reviewing something worthy enough to be a Cascada song. It was released last week, but I don't think many people realised she had released a new song, again lack of promotion, furthermore I found it difficult to find as it is under her first name only of Esmée, is this the name we are supposed to go by now? And if so, how come she hasn't changed her facebook and twitter profiles?

This music video is clearly low budget. It's missing a hell of a lot. I can't imagine the music channels picking this video up and showing it, it's just not commercial enough, it doesn't exude what you really want and need from a video like this, and although, for some people, Esmée is enough, for others it just isn't.

I don't even know where to comment on this video, there's just not enough there. I like the photo booth, but it's a common item found in previous low-budgeted music videos.

I really haven't got much else to say. The song should've been a massive summer hit, but it came out too late and wasn't promoted enough (3 Beat Records really need to step up their game). The music video had so much promise, but doesn't work and doesn't stand out. I have to go with my brain on this rating, and I really don't like dipping this low for ratings, but guess I have no choice. however the song is definitely much better than the video, her voice is fantastic, and I hope she gets her big break soon!

The Black Eyed Peas - Don't Phunk With My Heart

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After reviewing Fergie yesterday, I realised that I have never reviewed The Black Eyed Peas, so you can imagine the horror that struck my face at this revelation. So today I shall make up for not reviewing this band, by reviewing my favourite music video from these guys.

The Black Eyed Peas are a four piece band consisting of Will.I.Am (William Adams), Fergie (Stacy Ferguson), Apl.De.Ap (Allan Lindo, Jr.) and Taboo (Jaime Gómez). They have been a massive success all over the world, and I bet everyone knows who they are, if someone doesn't have a clue, they have clearly been hiding under a rock for way too long. They are currently on a hiatus (second one now), how long this will last no one knows, but they will be returning in the future, and they will not disappoint.

"Don't Phunk With My Heart" was written by William Adams, Stacy Ferguson, Printz Board, George Pajon Jr., Full Force, Anadi and Indeewar. The song samples a few different songs which are: "I Wonder If I Take You Home" by Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam with Full Force & "Ae Naujawan Sab Kuchh Yahan" and "Yeh Mera Dil Pyaar Ka Diwana" by Asha Bhosle. It was my favourite song back then and I wasn't happy that it only made number 3 on the UK chart, it really deserved to have gone higher. I also like how they have linked the song in with the music video.

I really can't fault this video at all, it is based on TV shows such as The Price Is Right, The Dating Game and Love Connection (I have only heard the first one, the others were American only TV Shows). And I like the whole concept, especially the teleports and how they go on different dates each time.

I also like how the members in the band all play different characters, some of which play more than one character, which makes it extremely interesting to watch. Will.I.Am plays himself, Voodoo Thursday and the drummer in the live band. Fergie plays herself only. Apl.De.Ap plays himself, the guitarist and the announcer. Taboo plays himself and the keyboard player.

I can't fault this video apart from the unfairness of Voodoo Thursday, and I remember hating him as a child when I first saw this video. I'm all into fairness, and I think Fergie should've worked out what Voodoo Thursday was up to right at the end, but then again some people are in denial of the whole events.

Overall, a great song that I can't help but still like today, seven years after it's release. The music video is definitely top-notch, and I reckon it would be hard to find a better video from that year, however that's my personal opinion and there might well be a better one from 2005. But I can't find anything wrong with this one, so you can all clearly imagine what rating I'm going to give it.

Aerosmith - What Could Have Been Love

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Aerosmith, Aerosmith, Aerosmith. Even words can't describe them as they are above words. They are definitely one of rock's great, and when I knew new music from them were going to be released, I was surprised. Could they really manage to live up to their previous songs? That was the single question running through my mind. After watching this, it's clear to me that they are back and with a vengeance as this song is extremely catchy.

Aerosmith are a five-piece band consisting of Steven Tyler, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford and they have been going for a very long time, longer than I've been alive. "What Could Have Been Love" was written by Russ Irwin, Steven Tyler and Marti Frederiksen. It is one of those songs that I am not sure of in the first minute or so, and then it starts to get better, so much so it's stuck in my head. Will this song do well when it is officially released in the UK? Who knows, it depends how much it gets promoted, it's possible that it will chart high, but I doubt it will be the song to give Aerosmith their first UK number one single, it's just not commercial enough.

The music video is weird, but in a good way. I like how it's both performance and narrative, however they have released so many music videos that I just don't think this one is quite up there with the others.

I don't really understand the narrative, however I do have my own take on it. As far as I can work out, he is lost after they broke up therefore he is "missing". As to why he is painting the town in these posters is a different story altogether that I don't quite get as he has to take them all down again the next day as he is no longer lost. Guess this is just a video I'm not going to fully understand.

I like the performance side to this, it's different and not something you would expect. But I can definitely see other bands doing something similar in the future. This one is quite laid-back and chilled.

Overall a very catchy song that is still stuck in my head, and a music video that is not as bad as I first thought, but one that I don't quite get. However there are no other problems with this video and so...